With over $500M made globally in four weeks, it's safe to say that Wicked is quickly becoming one of the most popular movies of 2024. Veteran fans of the book and stage musical have flocked to theaters and joined with people who had no idea what to expect from a story about the Wicked Witch of the West. One of the things that dismays some moviegoers is the fact that the film ends with a "to be continued" moment. But to whet our appetite, the production team has released the title for the second half of the musical.
Wicked: For Good
It's exciting when there's an update for a movie we're eagerly anticipating and with eleven months to go before the finale, we know what it will be called. As reported on Deadline, "Jon M. Cu's second Wicked film, previously known as Wicked, Part 2, has now been titled Wicked: For Good."
You may not have heard the song performed before if you're new to Wiz-o-Mania, but you have heard part of it if you've seen the movie. The incidental music has included part of its music a couple of times already, but it's most clearly audible at a true turning point in the story of Elphaba and Glinda. At the Ozdust Ballroom, Elphaba is jeered at and mocked for her peculiar clothing, green skin, and aggressive personality. Suddenly, her roommate realizes how badly she's behaved and Glinda joins Elphaba in the center of the ballroom to dance with her. Glinda reaches out to the "unusual and exceedingly peculiar and altogether quite impossible to describe" witch who shares her suite and it is at that moment that a four-chord musical motif is played.
This chord progression is from the opening of the emotionally intense duet "For Good" near the end of the musical. It acknowledges the pain and joy that they have been through in their friendship and affirms how the journey has changed them both forever. Using "For Good" as the subtitle for Part 2 reminds us all of the powerful message and draws the audience's attention to tracking how true it is. We will all be thinking, "Who can say if I've been changed for the better? But because I knew you, I have been changed for good" as we see the schoolfriends on opposite sides of a struggle.
Wicked: For Good will be in theaters on November 21, 2025. For now, we'll follow the yellow brick road to the nearest theater for another day in the Emerald City.